Narendra Modi tweets in Japanese

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday put out a series of tweets in Japanese and said that as his friends from Japan had asked him to talk to the people of Japan directly, he had done so.

Modi is scheduled to visit Japan from Aug 30 to Sep 3.

In a tweet in Japanese, he said he was very "excited" about the visit that will strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

In another tweet addressed to his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Modi said he deeply respected Abe's leadership and was particularly looking forward to meeting him.

After eight tweets in Japanese, Modi, in a tweet in English, said: "Friends from Japan asked me to talk to the people of Japan directly in Japanese. I also thank them for helping with the the translation."